Mar 21st 2012: OHP lenses, important objects, polishing ....& stuff.

Welcome to this week's Mechanical Design Forum Digest. I hope you like the new format - as you can see I've tried to jazz things up a bit! Look to your right and you'll also see some handy icons which will link you up to our presence on the main social networks. Please do pop along and join us there too!

As usual below is the usual digest of discussions that have been going on recently. I hope you enjoy them and would encourage you to join in (especially with the unanswered ones)

Can an OHP's Fresnel lens be used to concentrate Solar Power?
If so, can this power be used to run a (brass-cylinder) sterling engine? Has anyone used an OHP's lens before for a similar purpose ? What happens if a second OHP-Fresnel lens is brought into the path of light, does the intensity increase? And what if I use a convex lens in between two Fresnel lenses, can that help?

How to achieve a good looking aluminium die casting?
Currently we shot-blast a texture on our aluminium die castings to make them look nice. This does a reasonable job of making the appearance look OK. However, the disadvantage is that if you use too much blasting you get peel, and if you use too little it still looks terrible. It's a fine line......

Steering Techniques Help
I have these equations which represent the car steering angles and velocity. These equations were obtained from a car simulation model. They are used for continuous turning motion. However, I could not understand how do they operate or what model do they represent. I would like some hints if any body is familiar with them.....

Problem in drawing sketches on revolved feature
I created a handle using a revolved feature, now I need to draw a sketch on one face of this revolved feature but I can't figure how any help? I tried to use a projected sketch but after projecting my sketch on the required face I need to use the cut extrude feature but I don't know how......

Polishing
hello all:
Does anyone know what are grinding industry of more well-known enterprises? Thanks......

Is this forum for me?
Hey guys. I am new here. Not only that, I am new the the engineering design concept too. To be honest, I am a high school drop out. I always wanted to become a mechanical desginer but people tell me without a high school degree or college I might as well try another career. I was wondering if I can get some tips from more expericence.......

Gear 'K' chart
What is a "K" chart (profile) of a gear? How is it prepared? Though the Total profile deviation allowed is 16μm, the "K" chart gives a profile deviation of different values at different roll angle. Pl exlain. Thanks

Important Objects Feel Heavier?
Interesting. I've often considered the weight of products and how it influences perception. For example, I once worked at a place which made some rather expensive lab instruments which for its size were as light as a feather! I almost felt they should have deliberately make them heavier to make them feel more expensive.......

Inventor Divide an object with multiple curves
i don't know inventor very well so maybe someone here can help me...i want to divide a 3d model with 3 archs. The problem is inventor just let me select one arch and not all so my model gets unwanted cuts. maybe someone can help.......